14 YEARS: Former St Albans footballer jailed for gun offences

A former St Albans City FC footballer has been jailed for 14 years for intending to pass a gun to a dangerous criminal.

Ralston Gabriel, 28, and his two identical siblings Reiss and Ricky, were charged with conspiracy to possess a firearm within intent to endanger life in relation to an incident on April 10, 2017 and were sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, September 6.

On April 10, 2017, officers from the Met’s Trident and Area Crime Command conducted surveillance in Durban Road, Tottenham.

They saw a mini cab attend the location and a male get out to meet another man. He returned with a large holdall and drove off.

The vehicle drove away but was stopped by armed police shortly after. Officers searched the bags and found an Uzi sub-machine gun, self-loading pistol and ammunition for both guns.

NA on the pistol linked one of the identical triplets but upon further investigation by officers, it revealed all three had a part to play and were convicted on Tuesday, July 2, 2019.

Ralston and Ricky were given 14 years for the offence and Reiss was given an 18-year sentence.

Five other men were convicted with the crimes – one of whom was released on license for his part in the discharge of a firearm into a crowd of people outside Wood Green Tube Station in 2010, which one man received gunshot wounds.

Reiss Gabriel was also sentenced for a separate charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life in relation to an incident on July 26, 2018 and two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

He admitted the offences and was jailed for six years, four years and three years and six months respectively to run concurrently to the sentence for the main conspiracy.

Ralston was at the club for only a few months during the 2018 season where he scored nine times in just two appearances making him their top goal scorer at the time.